Dialogue advice from a literary agent

Every so often literary agent, Nathan Bransford, posts advice on his blog that is just what you needed in your writing life. Last week he wrote about dialogue. In fact, that blog entry is called, Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue.
Click on the link and take notes. This stuff is good.

Every Friday he posts current news from the publishing world. If you only have time to read one of his blog entries, Friday is the one you should pick. It may take several hours to follow all the links.
Have fun.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Weird Ocean

Weird Ocean, Pop-ups, pull tabs, flaps, and flip books by Kathryn Smith. Illustrated by Robin Boutell. Kingfisher Books, 2010.

An easy reading pop-up book for the nonfiction section.
The flip books inside the book work fine and so do the pop-ups.
(It's discouraging when pop-ups won't close down smoothly -- Mo Willems, I'm talking about your Big Frog Can't Fit In. (It just won't fold neatly back into the book.)

But the pull-tabs are a bit difficult to use, showing only on one side of the page and thus being difficult to pick up and pull.

Since Kingfisher and DK Eyewitness books specialize in short blurbs of information combined with good picture representations of the topic under discussion, this is typical of that type of book.

Each doublepage spread contains many similar beasts -- travelers, predator and prey, etc., and discusses in a few sentences how they interact or what makes them part of this group. First and second graders should be able to read and enjoy the action on these pages.

You can explore other Nonfiction Monday posts at Rasco from RIF.
-wendieO

9-11-01

Author, Lisa Yee, asked the question on Facebook:
Where were you on 9-11?
You don't even have to give the whole date -- everyone knows what you are talking about.

(except possibly small children. I wonder where the cut-off age is for this? I suppose I'm among a small number of people who also remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when President Kennedy was shot. But I digress...)

I responded that --
I was watching the TODAY show. Slowly getting ready for work. Taking my time because I didn't have to be at work this day until noon. Good, I said. I have time to watch the Today show.

Close to the end of the show, close to 9 am Eastern time, Matt Lauer said, "Something's happened."
In complete silence they replayed the crash of the first plane into one of the Twin Towers in NYC.
Then you heard him say, "Oh... My... G*d!"
And the camera showed the second plane hitting the second tower.
The TV station never went on to the next scheduled show -- It was the Today show for the rest of the day.

We were glued to the TV after that.
I e-mailed my editor, suggesting she leave her office. (her office was somewhat close to the event.) But she had already left.
I e-mailed NYC writer friends. Over the next few hours and days, various NYC writers e-mailed all their internet friends assuring them that they were okay.

We kept the TV on all day at the library in the public area.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
As another and then one more attack plane was discovered.

I still wait for the other shoe to drop.
Because of that day, for many years afterwards, I was a news addict.
How about you?
-wo

Friday nite concert fun at Pier 6

Friday evening, the 10-year-old and I had a great time at the Prairie Home Companion Summer of Love concert at Pier 6 on the Baltimore Inner Harbour. (sitting under a huge tent/ watching the sun set behind Orioles Park at Camden Station/ surrounded by water on three sides/ Great seats 14 rows from the stage)

And today they posted pictures and comments about Baltimore on the Prairie Home Companion blog. I was going to try to capture some of the pictures to decorate this blog entry, but you'd probably rather explore their complete scrapbook, so Click and enjoy their photo album from all the cities they visited over the past month.

Our favorite person on that show is the Sound Effects guy -- Fred Newman. He and Garrison had several skits together, much to the enjoyment of the 10-year-old. (and me) (and the rest of the audience)

If you muck around that website, you'll also find a wonderful recorded interview of Garrison keillor on MPR Day at the Minnasota State Fair. But you don't have to search for it. Just click on the link in the previous sentence.
Enjoy!

Nonfiction Monday - Parrots

Parrots by Margaret Fetty. Part of the Smart Animals series published by Bearport. Available now.

Do you have a parrot? If so, you already know that these animals are very smart.

Many parrots can learn words and repeat them back to people. But some parrots actually use human words in sentences that have meaning. Also, scientists are discovering that parrots are also smart enough to make simple choices.

Brilliant color photographs accompany the information.
Back matter includes: Facts about parrots, glossary, a short bibliography, more to read, an online places to learn more about parrots, plus an Index.

More Nonfiction Monday posts can be found at the Miss Rumphius Effect blog.
-wendieO

They should have a test for Parenthood

At the State Fair this weekend, we saw another example of why, if it's important to take a driver's test to drive a car, they should have a parent's test before people have babies.

We took granddaughter and friend to the State Fair and bought 'Ride All Day' wristbands for them. While they were on the rides, we would find bench seats near the ride to sit and relax. At their favorite thing -- the tall, tall slide-- we sat near a woman jabbering on a telephone who was ignoring her two or three year old little girl. Our kids slid down the slide on burlap bags, got back in line, and slid down again-- over and over.

The two year old wandered over to the slide ride, pushed open the Exit gate and walked into the end of the slide area. The woman jabbered on, ignoring her. The child sat down and took off her sneakers. The woman kept talking into the cell phone. At this time a group of kids were beginning the long slide. The woman continued to talk in a foreign language. The child got up and wandered to the side of the slide, tripped over the edge and fell to the side, just as that group of children reached the end of the slide.

The woman -- seemed to still not notice. Grandchild and friend, not seeing anyone at the end of the slide, began their descent. The crying two year old wandered directly into their path. There was no way they could stop sliding.

Mom on the telephone? She finally noticed what was happening, rushed over, grabbed child, jerked her out of the path of the swiftly sliding children, ALL WHILE STILL ON THE PHONE! Dragged the child and shoes over to the bench and attempted to replace the shoes While Still On The Phone.

Poor Parenting?
Cell phone Addiction?
You tell me.
-wendieO

How do you use your Library Card?

Over at Teaching Authors, JoAnn Early Macken is talking about libraries. Libraries are a writers' best friend. But they do much more than help writers. You can find anything you need to know at libraries -- more than you can on the web. And if the library doesn't have the information, they know where to find it. (even if it means searching the web and finding what you couldn't find there)

And do follow her link to the ALA website for the article -- 52 Ways to Use Your Library Card.

Good Question.
How DO you use your library card?
-wendieO